Lately I’ve gotten a few astounded remarks regarding my Bible in a Year post. People see it as such a huge accomplishment…and while I agree that it’s hard work, I think that its appropriate to put the work into perspective. It has been a humbling experience for me to realize some of the dynamics of reading below:

Everyone reads a lot more than they think they do:

Regardless of whether it is scrolling stock prices, passing billboards, online news headlines, or interesting novels on the shelves at Barnes and Noble, we live in a society of readers. And most of us digest a lot more text than we think. A year ago a friend of mine posted an astounding analysis of this very phenomenon on his blog, and it seems appropriate to share the results here:

What are we feeding our minds with?

The question is not, ‘Are we reading?’ The question is, ‘Is what we read building us up, or tearing us down?’ If the principle of ‘garbage in, garbage out’ is true, then what is our constant appetite for television shows like “Desperate Housewives” and “24” doing to us? What is it turning us into?

Reading the Bible takes more time than reading a book:

The Bible is a book that involves deep meaning in every page. The act of reading it is an act that allows us to hear the voice of God. It should read at the speed of an academic paper…accompanied by notes, prayers, and appropriate amounts of research.

Thanks to Whitney, Dan and others for their insightful and challenging questions.

About this time 1 year ago, I decided to start following the Bible in 1 year plan laid out by the website, YouVersion.com. While I later left the website behind, I continued on their daily Bible reading plan, and even managed to finish early. The day before Thanksgiving I spent some time in prayer before wrapping up the book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament.

Before you applaud my valiant effort and godly motivations, let me admit that much of the reading has been required for class, as well as being a part of my goals. This task has been done in boredom and in inspiration, with little results and with great results over the past year. My best thoughts from the experience are below.

1. The Bible must always been seen as a whole story. Too many misconceptions about God arise from an ill knowledge of the whole story of Scripture. It’s difficult to gain a full understanding of God with a limited knowledge of all that He has written and done.

2. There is infinitely more about the Bible than can be learned by reading it through once. The Bible is a huge book, meant to provide us with instruction throughout our entire lives. The meaning of some Scriptures are only open to us in certain periods or events in our life. It’s a pleasure to keep reading and experiencing all that God wishes to share. It’s humbling to know that I’ll never experience the full counsel of God in this lifetime…it’s too big for one person…He’s too big to know in one lifetime.

3. The books of prophecy are the most neglected books in Scripture…and because of that, we miss a lot as Christians. During the exciting historical books of the kings (1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, and 1 & 2 Chronicles) the prophets are speaking to the kings, giving God’s perspective on all the events of the time. By failing to listen to them, we fail to hear God’s perspective on important events. I need to find a better resource for myself and for others to be able to experience the words of God in this part of the Bible.

4. Discipline is a major key to spiritual growth. Getting held to a schedule of regular Bible reading really gave more consistency to my thoughts and focus on God. It made my prayers more regular, my mornings more productive, and grew my willingness to focus on the Spirit of God at work in my life. Rigid discipline can push people to legalism and pride, but it also opens the door to greater intimacy with God. I encourage you not to fear it. More often than not, I believe you’ll find it working for good.

One of my biggest reasons for surfing the blogosphere is to find help in understanding and communicating the truth of Scripture. For that reason, I am forced to sift through the confusing, the poorly written, and the ‘attempting to sound like an expert’ posts of others on a daily basis. In all my searching, I occasionally run across the authentic, the deeply-thoughtful, and the extremely helpful. Today I need to share one such treasure of posts with you.

I spent the last semester preaching passages from the book of Proverbs for class. I found the process of study and communication deeply challenging, and deeply humbling. I realized just how ignorant I really am regarding the book of Proverbs, along with many other books of the Old Testament. So when Soveriegn Grace Ministries posted a guide on understanding Proverbs based on their summer sermon series on the book, I was ecstatic. Links to books, charts, and sermons on the subject are priceless treasures for me.

I hope you will join me in appreciating the fruit of their labors, even if you just take time to download and listen to the first sermon. Resources are here. the first sermon is here.

Thanks Sovereign Grace!!!

I mentioned my general disappointment with the Bible Study resources in a past post, and I want to come back around and add a few recent discoveries that have positively impacted my study. I hope that that following sites peak your interest, and possibly add momentum to your time with God.

Language Tools:
If you only speak English, one of the most profitable things you can do is read from various translations. If you are a multi-lingual individual, I definitely suggest that you read from non-English translations as well. My favorite translations are the New American Standard Bible, and the New Century Version. The first is VERY accurate to the reading of the original language, the second is a paraphrase intended to be readable to children. Bible reading sites are very prevalent: bible.logos.com, www.youversion.com, www.biblegateway.com, etc. My favorite one is currently www.biblos.com, which has over 90 multi-lingual translations, and also makes an interlinear view available.

If you are a student of the original languages, I also recommend that you utilize online tools. I find the Greek view of www.biblos.com to be very helpful in my study–but am most impressed by John Dyer’s readers bible, where you can customized the view to provide only the elements of the text that you need to read successfully.

Bible Reading Plans:
Both online and offline, I am also a huge fan of Bible reading plans. My wife and I are currently following the plans available through YouVersion.com, so that we can keep each other accountable to reading through the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice this year. However, online reading guides are a dime a dozen, so take your pick. Most sites even provide the option to have your daily reading emailed to you, or send via RSS feed.

Bible Study Tools:
In addition to these tools, I suggest that you consider using one of a few different approaches to Bible study:

• Chronological reading of the Bible
• Topical studies in the Bible
• Character Studies on Biblical Characters
• Parallel reading of the Bible’s four gospel accounts

Here again, www.biblos.com shines with great resources and views for all of these.

In my first post, I tore down a number of electronic Bible study tools saying they were inadequate for the task. I still wholeheartidly believe that you are better off utilizing a church library or pastor’s commentary collection that using the current software that’s available out there.

However, if you are studying the original language of the Bible from a knowledge of Greek or Hebrew, than there is no greater resource available than good software. Two programs stand out among the crowd: Bibleworks (for PC) and Accordance (for Mac). While I am not well-versed in either program, I find it incredibly helpful to be able to define works by simply scrolling over them in any translation I use in Bibleworks.

Brandon Johnson, who has had more experience with Bibleworks, has shared his thoughts here. I’ll refer you to that summary for now, and return with my own evaluation sometime. Don’t forget to view his pdf example, here.